Peter Preston on press and broadcasting + MSNBC | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/media/series/peter-preston-on-press-and-broadcasting+msnbc
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Sacking Piers Morgan can't disguise CNN's wider failingshttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/02/piers-morgan-cnn-viewing-figures
However low the chat show host's audience had fallen, it was far from the worst on the cable channel<p>Many people, on both sides of the Atlantic, don't much like Piers Morgan, and most of them chirped up when his CNN interview show got cancelled. Too English, too cricket-obsessed, too crazy about gun culture? Perhaps. Morgan dutifully – and cheerily – ate bumper portions of humble pie. But there is a wider problem here, a CNN problem, that mere pie consumption doesn't reach.</p><p>Take a typical day of US cable news ratings just before the announcement of Morgan's exit broke, say Thursday 20 February. Daytime viewing overall: Fox News with an average audience 1,153,000; MSNBC with 358,000; CNN with 257,000. Over prime time (8pm to 11pm) the figures are: Fox, 1,856,000; MSNBC 785,000; CNN 323,000. Before Piers goes on air at 9pm, Bill O'Reilly for Fox (2,519,000 viewers) and Chris Hayes for MSNBC (778,000) both wallop CNN's Anderson Cooper, with a mere 316,000. Morgan's 364,000 at 9pm is actually CNN's best/least-worst score of the day.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/02/piers-morgan-cnn-viewing-figures">Continue reading...</a>Piers MorganCNNFoxMSNBCTelevision industryTV newsUS television industryMediaSun, 02 Mar 2014 00:04:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/02/piers-morgan-cnn-viewing-figuresEPAPiers Morgan ate humble pie, but all CNN's audiences are off balance. Photograph: EPAEPAPiers Morgan ate humble pie, but all CNN's audiences are off balance. Photograph: EPAPeter Preston2014-03-02T00:04:05ZAre the days of striving for fair and impartial news dead?http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/aug/05/television-news-bulletins-bias-impartiality-bbc-cnn
Fox and MSNBC in the states are going great guns because they are openly biased – so perhaps it's time for the BBC to rethink its approach to news<p>A bronze for our Becky doesn't cut much ice in Nice when France's Camille takes gold. A silver for Scottish Mike makes no waves and no headlines in Budapest as Hungary's Daniel touches first. And that, of course, is what we expect. There's nothing like the Olympics for showing us, yet again, that almost all news is national-local. Same Games, utterly different tales of triumph or disaster depending on where you're watching TV. Is that fair, balanced and duly impartial, as BBC guidelines would insist? But they weren't written with Helen and Heather or Mary and Zara in mind.</p><p>Let's call it the CNN dilemma. Jim Walton, the boss of CNN Worldwide, quit last week after 10 years on top. We &quot;need new thinking&quot;, he said: which was gallant of him, up to a point. CNN revenues worldwide are at record levels, set to deliver $600m in profits this year. But Jim's problem is America, not the rest of the globe. And prime-time ratings there are lower than they were two decades ago. CNN is getting whipped by Fox and MSNBC on the turf it used to call its own.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/aug/05/television-news-bulletins-bias-impartiality-bbc-cnn">Continue reading...</a>TV newsTelevision industryBBCCNNFox NewsFoxMSNBCUS television industryMediaSat, 04 Aug 2012 23:04:14 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/aug/05/television-news-bulletins-bias-impartiality-bbc-cnnPublic DomainThe BBC aims for fairness and balance, but news involves selection, perspective and, frankly, choice.Public DomainThe BBC aims for fairness and balance, but news involves selection, perspective and, frankly, choice.Peter Preston2012-08-04T23:04:14Z